Meeting Abstract
Alternative tactics can arise in which behavior of some individuals systematically differ from others. By investigating the degree of variation that exists in natural populations, we gain insight into how evolution has shaped the ‘personality’ of individuals and established evolutionary stable alternatives, usually along a continuum. In the first known study to investigate the behavioral scope of Cricetomys ansorgei, we examined the spontaneous responses of two study populations of wild-caught African giant pouched rats. One population was examined soon after capture in Tanzania (and released back into the wild at the end of the study) and the other population was transferred to the United States to establish a colony and was examined several months after living in captivity. Presenting a series of novel stimuli tests (light-dark box and novel food items), we measured the proactive-reactive responses of subjects in each study group. In both wild and captive study populations, about a quarter to a third of subjects demonstrated flexible responses to novelty, however these responses were not necessarily correlated across tests. Proactive-reactive responses to novelty may be relevant to understanding the mechanisms responsible for individual variation in exploration and adjusting to captivity.
